Abstract

In sub-Saharan Africa, women in smallholder dairy
operations carry a disproportionate labor burden, especially in making milk
products like ghee. In this short communication, a per capita ghee consumption
of 1.34 g/day is estimated for Uganda, revealing an order of magnitude gap
between the recommended and current consumption. This wide gap suggests
increased production opportunities that can only be realized with labor-reducing
innovation interventions. Such interventions will not only decrease the labor
burden, but will also enhance quality and quantity.

Keywords: poverty, smallholder, traditional processing, Uganda

Introduction

It is estimated that there are approximately 100
small-scale dairy processors in Uganda who process about 100 to 500 liters of
milk per day into ghee, yoghurt, ice cream, cheese, boiled and cooled milk
(Sikawa and Mugisha 2012). Large industrial dairy processing is dominated by
four firms, including: Jesa Farms, Paramount Dairies, Sameer Agriculture and
Livestock, and GBK Dairy Products. In addition to processed milk for local
consumption, some of these players produce liquid and powder milk for export.
Between 1991 and 2006, the total milk production in Uganda grew from 365 million
to over 1.4 billion liters (Sikawa and Mugisha 2012). As shown in Table 1,
South-Western and Central regions were responsible for 70% of the milk
production in 2007. This lead is attributable to a combination of more favorable
climate and cattle-rearing traditions among the inhabitants of these regions.
More recent 2012 milk production estimate have been provided by Agriterra (2012)
at 1.8 billion liters. This estimate was based on the number of cattle and a
steady production growth rate of 8% as reported by Dairy Development Authority
(DDA) in 2008 (Agriterra 2012).

According to Wozemba and Nsanja (2008), the milk per
capita consumption in urban areas is 48 liters/year, while that in rural areas
is 22 liters/year. Agriterra (2012) has provided a slightly higher estimate of
58 liters/person/annum. It should be noted that as with production levels,
consumption varies with regions ranging from milk surplus region -western region- 86 liter/person/annum to milk deficit region -eastern region- 43
liter/person/annum. These consumption levels are much lower in comparison to
neighboring Kenya at 100 liters/person/annum. Also these consumption levels are
well below the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended level of 200
liters/person/year. This gap is fueling investment in this sector that is
yielding the 8% production growth rate mentioned above.

Approximately 89% of the farmers sell their milk as is to
middlemen or processors. Of the remaining 11%, 9% process milk into ghee mainly
for home consumption while 2% make other products particularly yoghurt.
Ghee-making presents unique poverty-alleviation opportunities among women
smallholder farmers. As we previously reported (Sempiira et al 2015), in
sub-Saharan Africa, women in smallholder dairy operations carry a
disproportionate labor burden, especially in making traditional fermented milk
products like ghee. Ghee-making labor-reduction interventions are projected to
not only increase quantities, but to also enhance quality. To be able to
position labor-saving interventions in a sustainable way, it is critical to
establish the gap between the current and recommend per capita ghee consumption
in a manner akin to milk described above. Accurate establishment of per capita
ghee consumption requires national-wide comprehensive studies similar to that
conducted by Bhasin et al (2009), for ghee consumption in Udaipur City in India.
The purpose of this short communication is, in absence of a comprehensive
study, to provide a well-reasoned reliable estimate of the per capita ghee
consumption gap as a first step.

Table 1. Total milk production in
different regions of Uganda¹

Region(Milk-shed)

Milk produced(L/day)

Milk available for marketing(L/day)

Milk production per region(%)

South-Western

1,380,000

966,000

36%

Central

1,300,000

910,000

34%

Northern

575,000

402,500

15%

Mid-Western

306,000

212,200

8%

Eastern

268,000

187,600

7%

Total

3,829,000

2,678,300

100%

¹Source: Wozemba and Nsanja 2008

Analysis and discussion

Seventy percent of the milk produced by both smallholder
and commercial farmers is sold and the remaining 30% kept for home consumption
(drinking, turn into yoghurt and ghee) as well as calf rearing (Agriterra 2012).
Of the 70% milk sold, 80-90% is sold informally in unprocessed form. As such,
only 150-160 million liters of the 2012 total 1.7-1.9 billion liters of milk
produced annually is purchased by processors (8.4%). The main buyers include
small-scale producers of yoghurt, ice cream, and cheese as well as the large
industrial processors. We estimate the 2015 milk production of 2.3 billion
liters, starting with a 2012 figure of 1.8 billion liters and assuming a growth
rate of 8% per year. Assuming 30% of the 2.3 billion liters (690 million liters)
is kept at home and 50% of this (345 million liters) is used for ghee-making,
the per capita ghee consumption, assuming all ghee produced is consumed, comes
to:

The 20 liters milk to 1 kg of ghee and use of the 50% of
the stay-home milk used in the above calculation are based on our field
experience in the cattle corridor of Uganda (Sempiira et al 2015). The 2015
population of Uganda is estimated to be 35 million by the Uganda Bureau of
Statistics. On the shelves of urban high-end supermarkets can be found imported
ghee products. They are consumed by a very small percentage of the Ugandan
population and have been assumed to be negligibly small for inclusion in the
above calculation. In per capita units of grams per day, the consumption comes
to:

[0.490 kg per year x 1000 g/kg]/365 days per year = 1.34
g/day.

To recommend a desired per capita consumption, we turned
to the experience in India, where 100 million tons of milk is produced annually
and from which the sub-Saharan African learned the art of making ghee. The ghee
per capita consumption in India is approximately 250 g per day (Chawla 2009). It
is interesting to note that while milk production in India is growing at a rate
of 3% per annum, the ghee consumption is increasing at a rate of 9% per annum
(Bhasin 2009), suggesting that the current Indian consumption
of 250 g per day is on the increase. Using the Indian per capita ghee
consumption as a guide for a potential consumption target (e.g. 25 g/day; order
of magnitude lower) for Uganda, reveals a wide consumption gap and as such
suggests ghee production growth opportunity, ten-fold the current level,
especially among smallholder women farmers. But for this opportunity to be
realized, lower production costs through labor-saving tools are needed (Sempiira
et al 2015).

Concluding remarks

The best estimate of the average ghee consumption to-date
in Uganda is 1.34 grams per day. A reasonable consumption target is 25.0 grams
per day.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Prof. Noble Banadda and Dr.
Nicholas Kiggundu of Agricultural and Bio-systems Engineering Department,
Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda for their technical help. This study was
partly supported by Smallholder Fortunes (Uganda) and a Phase I Grand Challenge
Grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

References

Agriterra 2012 Identification of livestock investment
opportunities in Uganda. A final report of the study undertaken with financial
support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.